The bride contract

Chapter 5 - Kiahn

Before meeting that little human female, I had been cursing to all four Goddesses that I was ‘blessed’ with such a wayward brother. I had scoped out a few of the other clubs and entertainment establishments along the way, but my search had kept me going lower and lower on the levels of this wretched station. I had passed many a brothel and briefly wondered if that is where I might find him, since I know he is here to lay with females in the flesh. But, even while I disagree with a lot of my brother’s decisions for his life, I do know that he would not force a female to mate for money, no matter how safe he claims he can make the experience for her.

Which is ironic, because I had been the one who ended up paying a female, and it definitely wasn’t safe for her to trust me like that. Not with the way she felt, and how she moved against my body like she’d wanted me to bend her over that disgusting table and breed her then and there.

The Yoxxarii scum were not too difficult to track down after we realized they had left. They had descended a mere three levels and were getting escorted out from a gambling house when my brother and I had spotted them. The plan had been to follow them, and wait for the opportune moment to drag them into the dark of the service tu

Luckily we did not have to wait too long because not an hour after they’d entered a euphoria peddler’s tavern, did they stumble back out again, as high as shooting stars but nowhere near as pretty. It was easy for Za

When we returned to ‘Star Pleasures’ the club was closed, and my human was gone.

The slave trader marked on her arm was not yet open for business, either, so I had no choice but to return to our second level lodgings and wait for the nearest sun to rise. Sleep did not come easily. I could still feel the press of her warm body against mine like she was still there, leaning against me - trusting me not to hurt her. The image of her uncovered throat danced behind my closed, sleepless eyelids. It made my fangs itch.

Luckily, I managed to leave our rented suit this morning without detection from Aunt Zalora. Goddess of Wisdom only knows how she would react if she ever found out the kind of place her eldest nephew had visited last night. Za

But I am not Za

Save.

I’m going to save her, I tell myself, brushing imaginary dirt from the shoulder of my shirt and checking how clean my horns are in the reflection of the glass in front of me.

Another face appears in that very reflection, standing a few paces behind me, leaning his shoulder against a pillar as he wears the most smug expression I think I’ve ever seen.

I pause, my hand halfway on its journey to brush over my left horn before I drop it and turn.

“What are you up to, brother?” Za

I just about manage to rein in my snarl. “I thought you’d slunk off to some female’s bed again last night. Isn’t it too early for you to be awake?” Honestly, Za

My brother grins and shoves himself away from the pillar, casually throwing the half-eaten pukpuk fruit over his shoulder. One of the small service bots this station has bleeps and blinks as it rolls its way over to clean up the mess my brother had made, and I’ve never related so much to a piece of machinery before in my life. There is a waste receptacle maybe three dozen paces away, and yet he has to make work for something else to clear?

“Oh, Kiahn,” he laughs, coming to stand beside me as though he intends to ride the level pod with me. “It’s never too early to start a

Unfortunately, I do know that.

The pod arrives with a chirpy-sounding ‘ding’ and I enter with a grunt. Of course, my little brother follows me inside and waits for me to key the destination level into the control pad. He leans back against the glass wall, watching me, but I say nothing.

“You know, if you finally wanted to start fucking in the flesh, there are hundreds of gorgeous Xavia

“I am not purchasing a bed slave,” I grumble, as the pod starts its descent into the belly of the station.

Za

“Why?” I grunt, half wincing because my brother’s mating habits are not really something I’m keen to learn about. But humans are a very attractive species, and I ca

He taps on his comm, making his ‘fuck list’ disappear. “Because, dear brother, they are almost always slaves, and I’m not buying some poor female for that purpose. It would feel morally wrong. I do have some standards, you know.” Za

I ca

“I never said it was.”

Goddess of Wisdom! Give me strength not to murder my own brother right here, right now.

“I’m saving her, actually.”

“Uh-huh.”

I turn and glare at him. “Don’t you have someone’s bed to warm?”

“Do you want me to help you find someone’s bed to warm so we can forget this whole fiasco?” he asks, just as the pod comes to a stop and doors slide open with a ‘whoosh’. There’s a family of the frail-looking green people waiting to use our pod. I forget the species name, but their multiple eyes widen at the sight of two Xavia

“No, I do not want to find someone’s bed to warm,” I growl under my breath as I walk the level, heading toward ‘Mama Z’rykby’s Ethical Companion Trading Company’ - the most pretentious and false business name anyone could give a slave trader. “That would be too dangerous.”

Za

I roll my eyes. “You shouldn’t even be taking those. You know the laws.” I’m not stupid, everyone knows my brother takes the bite suppressants so that he can bed females more safely - so that the risk of him biting them becomes as minimal as they can be without the drastic decision of fang removal. But the last time male Xavia

Za

The mental image of my female’s face swims before my eyes, and I swear, I can feel the press of her soft little body against mine. She did not know what species I was, and I do not think she was aware of just how dangerous it was for her to rouse me the way she had last night, but it was exhilarating to have her in my lap and for her to let me touch her without going rigid with apprehension.

I start walking again, ignoring my brother’s offer of suppressants and the pleasures of the flesh with some unknown female. “As the third-born, you can get away with such proclivities, Za

“And buying a slave is a good look for you, is it?”

This time I do snarl as I spin to face him once again. I’m pretty sure a few people nearby gasp and one of them scurries away “Saving. I am saving her. She can come to live in the palace as a guest. It has to be better than what this Mama Z’rykby will force her to endure.”

Za

I shove him in the shoulder, but Za

He is blessedly quiet as he follows me through the rest of the level, weaving between traders and tourists. This level does not have as many facilities as the higher levels - facilities like cleaning bots. Although, I would not call this place as filthy as the lower level that ‘Star Pleasures’ can be found on, nor quite as dangerous.

At one point, I turn to check that Za

Mama Z’rykby’s storefront is lit up as we approach it this time, so I know they are open for business. The two windows feature rotating images of the females they currently have ‘in stock’, and a scrolling script about how terribly ‘ethical’ they are, like these females volunteered to be sold by them or something. The store is flanked by an adult mating toy shop, featuring replicas of all ma